Trending

Intel earnings

It's been awfully quiet on the earnings front in recent weeks, and there's a reason: This is the time of year when accountants are nailing down the financials for the fiscal quarters that ended in September. Later this week, the conference calls will begin trickling in, and then it will be a deluge of quarterly reports until early November.

Semiconductor stocks climbed higher Friday following the financial results of bellwether chip giant Intel. But despite the robust results that beat Wall Street's estimates, analysts expect the industry's revenue growth will cool off to 5% for the year, versus the 30% seen last year.

Alcoa, Intel and JPMorgan Chase will kick off a new earnings season this week when they report their results for the fourth quarter of 2010. Here's a quick look at what analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect to see, followed by a glance at what's coming up on the economic calendar.

2010 hasn't been a happy year for Intel. Its stock is up just 2% compared to the Nasdaq's 17% rise, and there's a growing sense that the explosive growth of smartphones and tablets will shrink the market for the PC chips that produce three-quarters of Intel's revenue. But the chip giant has a plan.

Technology bellwether Intel blew past Wall Street's projections Tuesday, reporting the best quarter in its 42-year history and giving investors a cause for optimism heading into the third quarter. Shares soared in after-hours trading.

Stocks vaulted higher Tuesday after a strong start to the second-quarter earnings season, as industrial bellwethers Alcoa and CSX reassured the market about the pace of the economic recovery. The Dow added 147 points, and all three major averages extended their winning streaks.